← Leap Academy with Ilana Golan
Leap Academy with Ilana Golan
Zoom CMO Kim Storin on Leading Through Brand Change When the Stakes Are High | E143
00:48:52
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- [00:00]
Kim Storen
There should be times where we're listening first, speaking second, maybe speaking last, or maybe not speaking at all and digesting, which is a very different shift than what you're taught in consulting.
- [00:12]
Podcast Host
How do you adapt from that? Consulting? Like, let's go really, really quick to let me take a whole team with me.
- [00:19]
Kim Storen
I mean, it started with hard feedback. I mean, it was the hardest feedback I've had in my whole career.
- [00:25]
Podcast Host
I couldn't be happier to speak to Kim Storen, which is the CMO of Zoom. You've been in marketing for startup and enterprises like IBM and Dell and M and A and Deloitte, and I can't wait to just dive in.
- [00:37]
Kim Storen
Our jobs are not going to be the same a year from now, and we have to understand that with that uncertainty and that ambiguity comes opportunity. AI doesn't care about your function, it cares about your workflow. And AI that is most impactful is the AI that's embedded into that workflow.
- [00:58]
Podcast Host
Okay, so how do you get into Zoom?
- [01:00]
Kim Storen
The first part is really understanding.
- [01:04]
Ilana Golan
Welcome to the Leap Academy with Ilana Golan Show. I'm so glad you're here. In the Leap Academy podcast, I get to speak to the biggest leaders of our time about their career, how they got where they are today, the challenges, the failures, and countless lessons. So lean in. This episode is going to be amazing. I'm in a mission to help millions reinvent their career and leap into their full potential and land their dream roles. Fast track to leadership, jump to entrepreneurship.
- [01:30]
Podcast Host
Or build portfolio careers.
- [01:32]
Ilana Golan
This is what we do in our Leap Academy programs for individuals and teams. And with this podcast, we can give this career blueprint for free to tens of millions. So please help my mission by sharing this with every single person you know, because this show has the power to change countless of lives.
- [01:52]
Podcast Host
Diocese.
- [01:53]
Ilana Golan
Okay, so let's dive in. Okay, so to introduce our amazing guest.
- [02:09]
Podcast Host
Today, I'll actually start with a short.
- [02:11]
Ilana Golan
Story, which I never do, so I hope you buckle up and lean in.
- [02:15]
Podcast Host
I started using Zoom way before the pandemic, way before most people heard about it, and I fell in love with it. And luckily for me, when I fall in love with something, I actually buy their stocks. But it wasn't public yet, so the minute it went public in 2019, I bought the stocks. Best investment ever. And it also is the reason why I managed to start Leap Academy and scale it to one of the fastest growing private companies in the US it's all based on Zoom. I would never have been able to scale so fast without Zoom. So this is not a paid advertisement. This is real. Like, this actually made such a big difference for me. And in fact, in March 2020, when the pandemic hit, Zoom came out with this amazing announcement that you actually going to make Zoom Free for K12. And I actually wrote it on my LinkedIn. This is a brilliant move. And I tagged Eric Yuen, who is the CEO of Zoom, immediately, publicly thanked me for it, and it meant the world for me. And it just shows so, so beautifully why Zoom is so successful. It's adaptable, it loves people, it loves community. And I couldn't be happier to speak to Kim Storian, which is the CEO of Zoom.
- [03:28]
Kim Storen
Well, I couldn't ask for a better testimonial intro. I love it. We love to hear those stories.
- [03:33]
Podcast Host
Well, and you've been also, I mean, you're a badass, right? I mean, you've been in marketing for startups and enterprises like IBM and Dell and M and A and Deloitte. So I can't wait to just dive in. Kim, I do want you to take me back in time a little bit.
- [03:48]
Kim Storen
Do you think?
- [03:48]
Podcast Host
There's something I've tried to poke around a little bit. Is there something that you, as a kid or as a teen, hinted to the Kim that you are today?
- [03:57]
Kim Storen
Oh, absolutely. My parents recently moved down from Austin about 45 minutes south, and so they downsized their house. And of course, in that you get loads of boxes of all the crap from your growing up. And there was lots of little treasures and gems in there. But one of the best parts was two pieces of my archival history. One was a book I'd written when I was 10. That was the story of me. And in that I talked about basically what I wanted to do and how I wanted to do it and the things that I was going to do. And it was just so similar to what I actually ended up doing and who I wanted to be and the things that I was passionate about and the threads of community and empowerment and leadership that just came through in this quite silly little book of stories of what I wanted to be and who I wanted to be. And then also in that box, there was a letter that I'd written to Michael Dell as a child. And it was a long letter asking him to donate to some fundraiser that I was doing at 10 years old. And I'm guessing he did not donate. My father couldn't remember. And I was also curious of why I had the letter. So I don't know how it all came together, but I obviously did not Have a problem making very bold asks, even in third or fourth grade. And I'm assuming my dad took that letter to the office and gave it to Michael and somehow it came back to my house. But absolutely was willing to like make the ask. And I had like written this whole thing of why it was important and why he should consider it. And now fast forward however many years. One of the things that I love about philanthropy is that I just make the ask all the time. Like, what's the worst they can say is no? So clearly I was doing that at an early age.
- [06:01]
Podcast Host
Oh my God, that's such a beautiful story because I think it gives such a great example of the boldness and it's actually what it takes to also climb up the ladder and to do big things. Because if you're not gonna ask, who's gonna give you permission? Et cetera. It's like, so now I get it. Now I'm seeing the hint. And then you worked in Startups and Fortune 50 companies, and I wanna go into the story of zoom, but I do want you to take a moment and just kind of reflect. What did these like, different environment teach you? Because I'm sure that was endless of learning and it actually created the Kim that can run such a big marketing organizations and such a. But what worries the learnings?
- [06:46]
Kim Storen
So I think the biggest thing is that I figured out pretty early on that I like to solve problems. And that's why I gravitated towards client service very early in my career. I was a management information systems major at ut and I did that because it was at the dot com bubble. That's what everybody said I should do. I had interned in finance and I was not very good at finance. But what I was really good at is every day on the trading floor because I was so bad at finance that they would ask me to give the update on what happened around the world from a news perspective that could impact the bond market. And so it was about communication and distilling all these stories and being able to put them into a format that the traders could understand. And then in mis, I found I could code. I learned how to code. I wasn't that good at it, but what I was really good at, because MIS was a little bit different than computer science in the fact that it was mostly consulting projects. And so all of my projects, I was the person appointed to being the translator of business requirements to coding requirements and coding requirements back to business requirements. And even though I was just an okay coder, I was really good at understanding the challenges and translating that into what needed to happen and then being able to step back and communicate the problem that we'd solved back to the client. And so that learning and understanding of what I enjoyed and what I was good at enabled me to hone in pretty quickly. That client service was my jam. And so that's where I spent the first part of my career, client service first as crisis communications and then as an M and a consultant after business school.
- [08:43]
Podcast Host
And just to stop here for a second, because I think what you're talking about is, and by the way, we share the same kind of engineering, starting with coding, which it gives a really good background, but so glad to have moved to clients. What I think you're talking about is connecting the dots. That's kind of what I wrote down when you said it, because it's true. Like if you needed to look at all the trends, you're actually needing to connect a lot of pieces of data and actually make decisions based on these datas, which is essentially what you do in marketing and trends and innovation. It's really cool.
- [09:19]
Kim Storen
Exactly. And so that was what I found, really motivated me. It got me up every day, excited to go do my job. And I found that that was the thing, that was the thread through all of this and that I really just liked the challenge of problem solving.
- [09:36]
Podcast Host
I want to stop here for a second for the listeners, because I think a lot of listeners, for them it's like, but I don't know what I want to do next.
- [09:45]
Ilana Golan
And I've been in this industry, right, like, and I think what you're sharing.
- [09:50]
Podcast Host
Is exactly the transferable skills. They're not necessarily the skills you learned in school. It's not necessarily the things you have like your engineering background or whatever it is. Like, it's not necessarily that. It's really the success leaves clues. And I think what you're talking about is these clues about the problem solving and the ability to connect the dots. So I want the listeners to also understand, like sometimes you're looking for it in the wrong place. And it's actually those things that actually make your zone of genius so that you can shine later. But okay, so then you go to these big companies from Deloitte and just share a little bit of that. And then what? Maybe some hard moments also that defined you.
- [10:31]
Kim Storen
Oh, lots of hard moments. Even just making the decision to go from client service to a more operational, industry based role was a big change for me. Part of who I was was this person who liked to solve different problems every day. I liked the adrenaline of mergers and acquisitions. I liked the adrenaline of having to learn industries. I did acquisitions in coal mining, in retirement facilities, in tech, in chocolate. Did a lot of work at Nestle and Godiva. And being able to, like, learn those different industries and understand also the nuance of all these cultures and clients. And so making that jump to industry was really challenging, and it really pushed me hard. And there were many times where I kept asking myself, did I do the right thing? I am a consultant at heart, so am I going to be able to find a role in industry that fills my cup as much as solving those problems for those clients? And so that was the challenge I kind of set forth to myself of how do I keep that same engagement and learning and change and transformation every single day? That that's what drives me. And am I going to be able to do that if I am in an operational role? And that's how I was able to really challenge myself and. And ensure that ultimately, I realized that it wasn't about the job, it was about me, and it was about who I worked with and being able to have that conversation with the team that I worked with to express and communicate. This is what drives me. If with change, with transformation, with really hard problems, you're going to get the most out of me. So where you're gonna see me struggle is where I feel stagnant or bored or not learning. And so give me the hardest thing out there, and that's where you're gonna see my best. And so that's what ultimately enabled me to make that jump, because it was a big change for how I think. And I didn't come through the traditional kind of fingers on a keyboard path. I came through this client service solving big problems, being paid to be the smartest person in the room. And I don't mean that as like me, Kim, but that was like every consultant was. You had to earn your dollar by bringing ideas and hard work to the table every single day. And so that was such a mind shift of going into industry.
- [13:18]
Podcast Host
And I'm sure there was endless learning from that that you bring with you all the time.
- [13:24]
Kim Storen
Absolutely. I mean, it's part of it is how you communicate and how you think. And even just being able to step back. Sometimes I have to step back and say, I need to, like, carve out my strategy time. Like, what's the problem I'm really trying to solve? What's the problem that we're really trying to solve? And can I visualize that and articulate that in A way that others come along on this journey with me. The horizontal and vertical logic that you learn as a consultant translates well to industry. But you do have to slow down because not everyone can run as fast as people that have been in consulting. And so no longer should we be the smartest person in the room, right? There should be times where we're listening first, speaking second, maybe speaking last, or maybe not speaking at all and digesting, which is a very different shift than what you're taught in consulting, where you're taught to get in there every day and earn your hourly rate.
- [14:26]
Ilana Golan
But I want to talk about that.
- [14:28]
Podcast Host
Because I'm a very fast mover and I think I also can scare teams away because I'm also demanding. You know, I try to embrace myself, but I somehow demand also a pretty fast pace because my patience is like this small. But you're able to somehow grow up really incredibly well in Dell and IBM and take big teams with you. Can you share a story, a little bit of how do you adapt from that consulting? Like, let's go really, really quick and add a ton of value to let me take a whole team with me on a journey, right, because there's a shift there.
- [15:09]
Kim Storen
It started with hard feedback. I had somebody pull me aside in that first role at Dell and say, you're the smartest person in the room and you make sure everybody knows it. And I was like, of course I do. That's how I hit my numbers. And they're like, no, no, no, no, no, you don't have any numbers anymore. You don't have a quota to hit in that same way. And so I actually worked with a coach to really uncover how do I get comfortable with not coming to the table with the proposal every single time. And it took that hard feedback. I mean, it was the hardest feedback I've had in my whole career. And I love feedback. I love that constructive feedback. But it was such a shift because it's like a double edged sword. You're like, well, am I supposed to take this as a compliment that I'm the smartest person in the room or am I supposed to, Nope, it's not a compliment. And so that's really shifted how I had to culturally fit in. And I think if I hadn't gotten that feedback as bluntly as I had that early on in my transition, that I may not have made it because I would have pissed a lot of people off. I wouldn't have culturally connected, I wouldn't have listened as much. I'm a very curious person. And I think I bring that. But I wouldn't have turned that curiosity inward. Right. I would have still kept that curiosity outward, where I'm bringing. I'm curious, but then I'm bringing it to the table. And so that harsh feedback really made me, like, take a step back. And the coaching that I went through as part of that, which was my decision to go bring on a coach and really think through what this meant. Like, did I have what it takes to lead teams in that way? Right. Not lead teams of consultants, which I'd done, but lead teams that have real, like, organization and cultural implications. And who did I want to be as a leader? And so that feedback was really the catalyst of a lot of hard reflection and trying to think through who am I as a leader? And am I a leader that people want to follow? Which is different, because I was a leader that people wanted to follow in client service. But that was a very different formula than in a bigger organization.
- [17:28]
Podcast Host
That's such a beautiful reflection. So, first of all, thank you for sharing. And you also talked about adrenaline, and I have to take you there for a second because I'm also a geek in sports and adventures and other things. And I want you to share a little bit. I think you're a runner. I think you have multiple marathon, and you can share a little bit. But also, how do you see the connection? Because to me, they are somehow connected to you being the leader that you are today. And I'd love to hear how you see it.
- [17:57]
Kim Storen
Yeah. So I think there's two parts of that for me. One thing is that I'm an athlete for life. I was not a good athlete growing up. I am not a good athlete now. I'm not one of these people that is like, I won first place in all these things, and I made the Olympic trials. No, never. My brother was such a strong athlete and the superstar of every team. And I was like, the person that came in fourth or fifth maybe, like, so, okay. But, like, I never won anything. There were sports that I tried that I just stunk at. I was on a basketball team in eighth grade. We never won a game. And I was a starter on the B team, and we never won a game. And we would have to go around. And my. One of my best friends now is somebody that was on that team with me, and we would have to shake hands after every single game and say good game to people that kicked our butts. And so I think as an athlete for life, meaning, I just love to be active. I love what Being physically active does for my mind and for my body. And I like to be outdoors. But I also am prepared to lose, and I'm okay with losing. And I'm a good loser. That has made me, like, a better executive. You know, some people are like, well, I always, I want the, like, Olympic people on my team. And I want, you know, I want the super. I'm like, I want the person that was on the B team of the basketball that never won anything because you still put in the work. I still practiced every day, every week. I still had great team. But we also learned failure's okay. And so that athlete for life mentality versus the, like, competitive at all cost mentality has really served me well.
- [19:50]
Podcast Host
And to get up when it's hard, I think that's probably business, right? And I think that's maybe what kept you going to more than one freaking marathon. Why would you do more than one? How many did you do?
- [20:04]
Kim Storen
I've done 14, so I need to get my 15. I've been kind of dreading it. I haven't done one since 2019. So I keep saying to myself, do I get to qualify as a marathoner still? But I'm still taking it because I think I'm going to do another one. Not retired yet?
- [20:24]
Podcast Host
Yeah, I was just talking to somebody yesterday in New York because I had an ironman like, many years ago, like 20 years ago. I was like, oh, that's a different beast. No. Can you still qualify or is it like, IP that at some point there's, like, expiration?
- [20:40]
Kim Storen
Nope. I love the fact that, like, I think when I, like, hit the next age group, I'm like, that's going to be my shot for Boston. Right? Like, I got to age up. I got to age up.
- [20:50]
Podcast Host
We need to pause for a super brief break.
- [20:52]
Ilana Golan
And while we do, take a moment and share this episode with every single.
- [20:56]
Podcast Host
Person who may be inspired by this.
- [20:58]
Ilana Golan
Because this information can truly change your life and theirs. Now, I want to check in with you. Yes, you. Are you driven? But maybe feeling stuck in your career or a fraction of who you know you could be? Do you secretly feel you should have been further along in your income, influence or impact? Do you ever wonder how to create not just a paycheck, but the life you want with a paycheck? The thought leadership, the legacy, the freedom. Because that was me. And that's exactly why I created the Leap Academy program, which already changed thousands of careers and lives. Look, getting intentional and strategic with your career is now more important than ever. The skills for success have changed. Aq, adaptability, reinventing and leaping are today the most important skills for the future of work. Building portfolio careers, multiple streams of income and ventures are no longer a nice to have, it's a must have. But no one is teaching this except for us in Leap Academy. So if you want more from your career in Life, go to leapacademy.com/training. Check out this completely free training about ways to fast track your career and you'll even be able to book a completely free strategy call with my team. That's leapacademy.com training.
- [22:17]
Podcast Host
Okay, so how do you get into Zoom? It's a competitive environment. Everybody knows Zoom. Everybody wants to get into Zoom. Why Kim? Like, how did they choose Kim or how did that happen?
- [22:29]
Kim Storen
I mean, it started with a cultural fit. And I think that was what was so great about it is that as somebody who'd been in this client service background who had done really big hard transformations, Zoom is not a turnaround by any sense of the imagination, but it is a transformation. And going from a perception of one product in the market to a perception of being a broad portfolio of solutions across audiences, right? People don't know that we have webinar and event solutions for marketers, or that we've got a CX solution for customer support, or that we have an employee engagement solution for hr, or that we have a revenue accelerator solution for sales. And so that is a big transformation for a company to go from being known kind of as a pandemic era, one trick pony, to having this huge broad portfolio and billions of dollars of revenue. And so I think for me, like I understood what Eric Yuan and the leadership team wanted to achieve, which was changing that perception.
- [23:38]
Podcast Host
Right?
- [23:38]
Kim Storen
We don't have a brand awareness problem at all, but that brand awareness is actually in that ubiquity sometimes can be a double edged sword because you are so well known for one thing. And so for me, that was just a challenge that felt like a natural extension of the challenges that had motivated me my entire life. And I just felt a real empathy for what Zoom was going through and I wanted to lead that transformation. And it felt like such a good match in terms of the work that I've done of really standing up brand to demand full funnel, full customer journey. And also this really big challenge of changing perception.
- [24:21]
Podcast Host
And I love this because to me, again, this podcast and everything we do in Leap Academy is all about reinvention. It's all about how do you get out of what you've been and into the future of where you want to go. And that's exactly where Zoom is. So I love this so much. And you're right. When you already have brand awareness, everybody kind of knows you as this one thing that works really, really, really well. But how you get to be known for something new, Right? And I think our people that are listening to the podcast will understand it in so many facets because they're dealing with the same thing in many case. Like, I don't want to be the engineer, I want to be the leader. I don't want to be the product person, I want to be the salesperson. Like, how do you also reinvent yourself? But also, it's amazing to see, how does a company reinvent itself? I think that's fascinating. So how do you see yourself into this challenge? I mean, Zoom is around for, what, 15 years, and the pace of change is mind blowing now with everything going on. So how do you even capture the thing, Speaking of connecting the dots, now it's all connected, right? How do you connect those dots? How do you take a company towards the next phase of it?
- [25:34]
Kim Storen
The first part is really understanding the market. And that was one of the things that I did before I even started Zoom, is I Talked to customers, SMB through enterprise, consumers, or business focused. I talked about 50 customers before I started and really wanted to understand their challenges, how Zoom solved those problems, what they understood Zoom to stand for, and really started to build that overall hypothesis around where we needed to go. And the thing that kept resonating with me is that every single person I talked to, no matter where they fell on the spectrum, right? SMB, enterprise, no matter if they were a marketer or a CEO of a smaller company, people love Zoom. And like, you started this conversation with your Zoom love story, and everyone had those stories, and it was so interesting to me because most B2B software companies do not have that same love. And it shows up in our NPS scores. It shows up in what people are talking about in Reddit or on LinkedIn or on Facebook. And there's just such an affinity to this platform, and it really comes down to, like, a ubiquity, right?
- [26:59]
Podcast Host
Bio.
- [26:59]
Kim Storen
Your mom knows how to use it, and your office also knows how to use it, but it also comes down to ease of use and simplicity, and it just works, and the quality is there, and that ultimately drives preference for the platform. And so it was that insight that I had, that hypothesis that I had before I even started, where I knew that there's a nugget of truth here and something that we can really leverage. And as I got in and was talking to the various GMs and the product leaders and the sales leaders and talking to the regions, it was how do we unlock that love and that affinity for the product and maybe spark this cultural shift and help them understand that our portfolio is wider and deeper than what they may have known from their experience. And so that became the universal truth. We then went and did real research and focus groups and talked to a whole lot of people in a more statistically significant way than just my random 50 people. But that universal truth became the overarching umbrella of our brand campaign and zoom ahead and what we put into market. And that was ultimately started with being the voice of the market. Right? Marketing is the voice of the market and the voice to the market. And I think so often, like we get caught up in the execution of the to the market that we forget about the strategy that comes with being the voice of the market. And so that's really been the perception shift started with that universal truth.
- [28:40]
Podcast Host
That's so interesting, Kim. And also because you've been in marketing for so many years, how do you see it evolving? Because again, there's just so many things that are changing in the way that you need to rise above the noise and you need to figure out the trends and you need to figure out these focus groups. I mean, there's always some focus groups, but now I think there's just the pace of everything is changing and the way you can get people to hear you and hear your story, et cetera, how are you seeing the change and how you're implementing some of it?
- [29:12]
Kim Storen
Well, I mean, the discovery process is fundamentally shifted. Even like within three months, the data is showing that we've gone past 50% of people are starting their discovery process on LLMs. We're going to be at zero click before we know it. And so from a marketing standpoint, especially if you grew up in marketing and like built your career around performance marketing, in particular demand, gen search, all of those pieces, that whole ecosystem is shifting now. And so our jobs are not going to be the same a year from now. They're not going to be the same three years from now. They're not going to be same three months from now. And so as marketers, like, we have to be more agile, we have to be on top of buyer behavior and like we always have been, but I think even more so in a way that is faster and more agile than it has been before. And we have to understand that with that uncertainty and that ambiguity comes opportunity. But that opportunity starts with good fundamental marketing. We've been so used to leveraging performance marketing as a crutch, right? Like you put in $5, you know you're going to get X amount of dollars back. And at the end of the day, what really keeps customers with you is not putting $5 into paid search. It's by building a community, by building a brand, by sharing your story and having others share your story when you're not in the room. And we're getting back to basics. So I think ultimately what's going to be hard for people is we've gotten into this mindset of being coin operated and this new discovery path and this new buyer behavior. And we're in the attention economy, right? People are multitasking at all times. They've got five screens going that if you can't build that community and that trust and that brand and that credibility and that you can't trust that people are going to be in the room talking good things about you when you're not there, you're going to lose in this next evolution of marketing. And that's hard for people to get their head wrapped around.
- [31:38]
Podcast Host
That's a huge shift. And I just came back, you guys know, from a dinner with Gary Vee, if you know him, I mean, he has a book, Day trading Attention, and he's all about the attention economy. And one of the things that I hear from you and I hear from him is AI is, is incredible. And it has a lot of power. How do you navigate between, like, especially when you have teams, between making it scary and threatening or empowering, because it can be both. How do you navigate this with teams?
- [32:15]
Kim Storen
Well, I think for us, what's great is as an AI company, not everybody realizes that Zoom has AI embedded in the platform. And we've really designed the meeting's workflow, leveraging AI across that workflow. So whether it's before meetings, preparing for meetings, during meetings, or after meetings, AI is embedded. And so one of the things that it's taught us as a team is that AI doesn't care about your function. It doesn't care which part of marketing that you sit in. It cares about your workflow. And an AI that is most impactful is the AI that's embedded into that workflow. And seeing Zoom and how we think about it across the meetings life cycle helps us as marketers think about how we embed it into our workflows on a daily basis. And so I like to think about that journey that end to end workflow and where AI can play a role. It is not going to replace all marketing humans. Probably not in our lifetime even. I don't think at least AI dings you for using AI. So just by the nature of that, you have to have a human in the loop, right?
- [33:30]
Podcast Host
It's also insanely positive. Like it's always loves all your ideas, like this was a bullshit idea. You just tell me that I'll have.
- [33:39]
Kim Storen
To send you my prompt. So I personalized all of my GPTs to not be positive and to be a collaborative thought partner. But I'll send you that prompt after this and you can try personalizing to see if you get less cheerleader, more thought partner. But people are tired of AI slop and that's why you're seeing events matter more than ever. People want to have an experience and they want to have community with people. And an AI is supercharging that need. Because now you don't know, like if you see something online or you get something in your inbox, you're like, did a human really write this or did AI write this? But when you have face to face. So when you go to a dinner with Gary Vee and you have an amazing conversation with other leaders around that table, you go home and you're inspired and you feel empowered and you've learned something and that you know that you've learned that from other humans. And so we have to continue to figure out how to recreate that emotional connection to the brand, even if we are digital.
- [34:51]
Podcast Host
And I totally agree. And actually end of February, we have in Silicon Valley like a big, you know, it's considered number one conference for reinvention and careers and it's incredible. And obviously we want everybody in the room because that's where a lot of this transformation happens. You know, it's also on one of the webinars in Zoom. And you know, we want to make sure that thousands of people can listen in if they can't do the travel. But how do you see the in person community versus webinar? Like how do you guys see it also inside Zoom?
- [35:26]
Kim Storen
I mean, I think there's a place in time for in person, for digital, for hybrid. And ultimately you're going to have to use every lever in that toolbox to connect with people where they are not just on like their discovery journey, but also where they are in terms of their life and where they are in terms of if they are going into the office or they're remote, they have a different path to engaging with brands based on if they're working out of their home or if they're commuting into an office every day. And so having the ability to spin up that hybrid experience, that virtual experience, that in person experience when you need to, is going to be a key to success, I think. If we think that everything will be kind of a paint by numbers, right? Like one size fits all, you really are going to have to understand the psychology of your buyer, where they are, what they need, what's their pain point, and then also what are the psychographics and demographics around how they work and how they want to engage.
- [36:35]
Podcast Host
We need to pause for a super.
- [36:37]
Ilana Golan
Brief break and while we do, take a moment and share this episode with every single person who may be inspired by this, because this information can truly change your life and theirs. Now, every cool opportunity you will ever find is most likely from a hidden market. It's the people who think about you when you're not in the room and bring the right opportunities to you. This means that the people you hang out with truly matter. That's why we created our flagship live event in San Jose, California in the heart of Silicon Valley. It's February 26 to 28 and it's the number one conference for reinvention, leadership and careers in the United States. It has speakers like the former president of Starbucks and many other leaders, including yours truly, myself and and I'd love to personally welcome you, give you a hug and hear what you think about the podcast.
- [37:28]
Podcast Host
We'll have many networking opportunities, photo opportunities.
- [37:32]
Ilana Golan
And we already know every single person after this event will go supersonic on.
- [37:36]
Podcast Host
Their reputation and career.
- [37:37]
Ilana Golan
So grab your tickets quickly because this.
- [37:40]
Podcast Host
Event always sells out.
- [37:41]
Ilana Golan
So go to leapacademy.com leapcon or you can search on Google Leapcon2026. It's L, E A P C O N. Don't miss out where the most impactful leaders hang out in February. So go to leapacademy.com leapcon I will see you there.
- [38:02]
Podcast Host
So let me take you there for a second because that means that a lot of our at least from what I can fathom, like, I think a lot of the definitions of success have changed. It's like if you need to measure success or say, how do I know if I'm successful in my role or the company is successful. And beyond the dollars, obviously public company, it's a different story. There's dollars involved and I'm not an idiot, I get it. But when you're kind of looking at it, there is a Difference between we used to kind of leverage all about information and now the transformation is actually really impactful. Or overall, like, how do you see personal success? How is that changing?
- [38:45]
Kim Storen
There's a couple ways to look at it. Obviously you work with your CFO, you work with your CEO to set those KPIs. And I do think just at the KPI level, brand is hard to measure and we still struggle.
- [39:01]
Podcast Host
And impact is hard to measure.
- [39:03]
Kim Storen
Totally, yes. Like you can like extrapolate. If you've got low churn and high revenue, then you can probably assume that like your marketing is working. But when you try to really get down into the nuts and bolts of how does the brand investment that you're making today contribute to the success of the organization? It's hard to measure and we have proxies, but we're still trying to figure out how to connect the dots between impact and brand investment. That's why I think you did see the rise of performance marketing, because $5 equated to X dollars, right? And you could put that one to one clarity of KPI and measurement in a way that brand just can't. So then like when I layer that on as a marketing executive and I say, well, what does success look like for me? Obviously I look at those metrics the same way and I can also kind of poke holes in them the same way. But there are other things that matter, which is, have I built a high performing team? Does my team feel empowered and engaged every single day? Do they want to be here? Do they want to be on this journey with me? And in a lot of ways in service of me, right, as a leader? And have I built and developed a team that has not just the capabilities that they need for the future, whether that future is at Zoom or somewhere else, but do they also have a culture that makes it fun and enjoyable to go to work every day? And so I think that that's such a key for at least for me. Time is short, life is short. We don't need to be spending our life doing things that don't fulfill us emotionally or culturally in some sort of way. And so I come back to some of those call them metrics of success, but other elements that help me define of whether I feel successful and being impactful in the role that I am in today.
- [41:10]
Podcast Host
And I love that because I think it is not. And again, we're pretty big about that and leap that it's not just about the paycheck, but the life that you're creating with the paycheck. Whether it's impact or legacy or fulfillment or fun or whatever it is for you. But one of the trends that we're seeing is a lot of what we call portfolio career. Like, people are starting different advisory board seats, coaching, consulting, like, they're doing public speaking, whatever. They're doing some things on the side. First of all, do you see it? And if you do, how do you react to it? As an executive in the company, how do you shift between them? Because we are seeing a big trend. We think there's also a way to create shortcuts with this, because you can learn a lot by experimenting with different things and seeing if you like it. But I'm curious, how do we navigate it between the W2 role? Because you still need to do good work, you still need to be loyal, you still need to be hardworking, et cetera, et cetera. But there's, like, different things that you might want to do on the side. How do you see it?
- [42:16]
Kim Storen
So, at least for me, because I do have a portfolio career, and I've had one. I mean, all the way back to, like, my first job out of college and I was teaching SAT classes on the side. And so for me, it's always been an important part of who I am. But I think there are certain things that, as you rise up in the ranks and as that pressure becomes higher and you need to focus more of your time on achieving the goals that you've committed to your organization, it's how all those dots connect. And how does the things that you do outside of your day job help you be better at your day job? So, for example, I'm a certified Pilates teacher, and I teach two classes on Sundays, and that is my lunchtime Sunday routine. And it's two hours where I'm committed. But what I have found is that teaching Pilates has enabled me to improve my public speaking. It has helped me figure out how I communicate differently when it comes to explaining things and taking hard information and being able to cue it in a different way. Not only do I love it because I help people transform themselves, but it also helps me in being a better leader in a lot of ways. And so I try to find those pieces and places of intersection, because there is a clear delineation between a hobby and a portfolio career, Right? And going and taking an art class and maybe selling some art on the side as a hobby is very different than, like, trying to make a life as an artist. And so when you're trying to think about your portfolio career, it's how do you have revenue sources from other places or how are you learning in different places? And that portfolio career can span paid and free. Right. Philanthropy can be part of that portfolio career. I don't make a whole lot of money teaching Pilates classes, but I can take a nice vacation once a year and know that like my Sunday class is paid for that. But I also know that I'm benefiting as an executive because of what I'm teaching myself, a different type of style of teaching. And so it's all of those things and how they connect, I think that are really important. And organizationally, if you're doing your job and you're doing your job well and you're working for me, like, I don't care if you are spending your free time running marathons or doing advisory work or teaching yoga or what have you. The challenge becomes when you're not delivering and you're prioritizing the ironman training or the philanthropy or the.
- [45:16]
Podcast Host
You're right, right.
- [45:18]
Kim Storen
Like, and, and life is a career lattice. And there are going to be times where you dial up, dial down because of life. Right. You have a family emergency or a sickness or illness or what have you. Like, of course there's going to be dial up, dial down. But that's different than back burnering. And I think as long as you are hitting the commitments that you've made to the organization and that you're driving impact for the organization, I don't care how you spend your free time. But it is when you see that trade off impacting the role that you've signed up to deliver for me, that there becomes a conversation.
- [46:01]
Podcast Host
Yeah. And I think for us, I mean, first of all, you alluded to the must haves. You definitely need to know what's critical for you at this moment. But there's also an element of what we call an umbrella brand of how do you actually create ripple effects in order to grow faster? But so let me just end with something, Kim. What would be something that you wished you told your younger self based on everything that you know now?
- [46:29]
Kim Storen
Oh, that's such a hard question. Because, like, looking back, hindsight's always 20 20. I think the thing that I would tell myself is like, don't grow up so fast. It's funny because I couldn't wait to grow up, right. I couldn't wait to go move away and go live in New York City and be on my own and do all of these things. And now as a adult in midlife, I'm like, where's the dance party. How do I like, how do I embrace this like 22 year old self again? And so I think I would tell myself take it slower, right? Embrace the elements of childlike wonder we wanted to move away from so fast.
- [47:11]
Podcast Host
Oh, that's powerful. And how do people reach out to you or to Zoom or to. Well, everybody knows Zoom, but what do you want them to learn more about?
- [47:22]
Kim Storen
So I would definitely say, like I want you to learn more about Zoom as a broader portfolio and so visit our website. Learn more Check out our new commercial if you need a little Saturday Night Live inspired humor to help you understand the breadth and depth of our portfolio. Bowen Yang, make sure that that comes across loud and clear. And then of course you can find me on LinkedIn and anybody can feel free to reach out. And I love to have conversations about AI marketing and of course Zoom.
- [47:55]
Podcast Host
Kim, thank you for being on this show and for showing up and for everything that you're doing in Zoom and beyond.
- [48:02]
Kim Storen
Oh, thank you. Thank you so much for having me. This was a fun conversation.
- [48:17]
Ilana Golan
Remember, this episode is not just for you and me. You never know whose life you're meant to change by sharing this episode with them. And if you love today's episode, please click the subscribe or Download button for the show and give it a five star review. This really means the world. Join me in helping tens of millions of individuals reinvent their career and leap into their full potential. Look, getting intentional and strategic with your career is now more important than ever. The skills for success have changed. Aq, adaptability, reinventing and leaping are today the most important skills for the future of work. Building portfolio careers, multiple streams of income and ventures are no longer a nice to have. It's a must have. But no one is teaching this except for us in Leap Academy. So if you want more from your career in Life, go to leapacademy.com check out our completely free training about ways to fast track your career. You'll even be able to book a completely free career strategy call with my team. So go to leapacademy.com training.